2,000,000 people visit Door County per year, yet this peninsula, with Green Bay on the west and Lake Michigan to the east and north, remains gentle, peaceful, somewhat rural and very nature-focused.

20,000 or more acres of Door County are devoted to protected park and recreational areas, providing plentiful opportunity for outdoor fun.

300 miles of shoreline makes the cup runneth over with water sports and water-based activities.

70 miles-long, the Peninsula is easy to navigate by car.

30 plus beaches delight visitors and locals alike; a few even welcome the canine crowd.

11 villages line the waterfront and each has its own personality as reflected in shops, galleries, restaurants, accommodation choices and fun venues to enjoy evening entertainments.

4 seasons bring many reasons to visit: spring for the cherry blossoms; summer for mild temperatures and every kind of outdoor fun; fall to see gorgeous foliage; and winter for peace, quiet, ice fishing, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing.

And last but not-at-all least,

2 vacation necessities —bed and breakfast— shine  in Door County.

BED

LODGINGS AT PIONEER LANE

Location in the heart of Ephraim village, itself in the heart of Door County, accounts for some of the Lodgings at Pioneer Lane’s draw. Ephraim makes a great base for exploring the Peninsula, and the charming white clapboard houses that hold the inn’s seven rooms are a short walk from Ephraim’s restaurants, shops and the shoreline (the most accessible shoreline in all of Door County).

But location isn’t all. Owners Hugh and Alicia Mulliken structured their inn to be heavy on both style and user-friendly substance. Although each room is unique, most are luxuriously spacious and all are filled with comforts such as whirlpool tubs (big enough for two), air conditioning (but you probably won’t need it as night air is so fresh and cooling), large closets, good beds with luxury linens (comfy to the max), TVs and free WiFi. Some rooms come with a fireplace (especially cozy in winter), while others sport a balcony or front porch area for summer lounging. Each room is individually decorated.

I stayed in the sleek and contemporary Sea Chest Room, which felt more like a small apartment than a hotel space, having a large living room and a kitchenette. Décor leaned to contemporary, with clean-cut lines and special design features that included lighting fixtures that are both form and function savvy and artist made wood furniture. Yacht-glossy wood floors, a blue and white color scheme and boat-related decorations supported the room’s nautical theme.

Simple, sophisticated, spacious, comfortable, convenient, the Lodgings has it all. Well, maybe not all. The Mullikens don’t serve breakfast—a plus in my book as I love  restaurant breakfasts and Door County had some winners to experience. Read on:

BREAKFAST

THE WHITE GULL INN RESTAURANT

Encouraged by Good Morning America’s claims that the White Gull Inn Restaurant in Fish Creek serves one of the best breakfasts in all of America, I tried a bit of everything on the menu: omelettes, corned beef hash, buttermilk pancakes, Swedish limpa bread toast and cherry-studded coffee cake included.  Yes, I know I’m taking a chance on hell for the gluttony sin, but who cares in the quest to find the best-breakfast-title claimer, which turned out to be a divine Door County Cherry Stuffed French Toast.

This awesomely rich, but totally worth-the-calories French toast is loaded with cream cheese and local Montmorency cherries. Andy Coulson, White Gull Inn’s innkeeper, gave me the following recipe. I didn’t retest it for you (was afraid I might eat all six servings), but if the recipe replicates what was served, and I am sure it will, you are in for a bit of cherry heaven.

DOOR COUNTY CHERRY-STUFFED FRENCH TOAST

Yield: 6 servings

1 loaf unsliced egg bread

2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, room temperature

2 cups frozen tart Montmorency cherries, thawed and divided (see note)

3 eggs

1/2 cup milk

Oil for grilling

Cinnamon

Powdered sugar

Butter

Maple syrup

Trim ends from loaf and cut bread into six 1.5-inch thick slices. Make a cut three-quarters down the middle of each slice. (Bread will appear to have two separate slices, but will be joined together at bottom.) Set aside.

In a small bowl, mix together cream cheese and one cup of the cherries. Spread approximately 1/6 of the mixture into the pocket of each slice of bread.  Gently press slices together, evenly distributing filling.

In a separate bowl, beat eggs and milk together. Dip stuffed slices into egg mixture and coat all sides. Immediately place on a lightly oiled griddle (or in a frying pan) and sprinkle with cinnamon. Cook over medium heat until golden brown, turning to cook second side.

Remove cooked slices from griddle and place on a cutting board. Gently halve each piece diagonally, forming two triangles. Arrange two triangles on individual plates. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and remaining cherries.

Serve with butter and maple syrup.

Note: The White Gull Inn uses frozen Montmorency cherries, which they buy from Seaquist Orchards, the largest growers and processors of cherries in Wisconsin. Seaquist’s owner Kristin Seaquist said if frozen cherries are not available, to use fresh or canned.  (Canned Montmorency cherries are available by mail order: click here).

Making fresh pasta is child’s play, especially if you have a pasta machine to do the rolling. The instructions for making the dough and using the machine may sound complicated at first, but after a little practice, nothing could be easier. So why are you waiting?  Set up the machine and let the good times roll.

HOW TO MAKE BASIC PASTA DOUGH

The following recipe will make about two servings of pasta. The recipe may be doubled or tripled.

1 cup all-purpose unbleached flour

1 extra large egg

1 teaspoon olive oil

Pinch of salt

Mound flour on a wooden pasta board or other flat surface. Make hollow in flour so it looks like a volcano.Break egg into the hollow. Top with oil. Sprinkle with salt.

(Now comes the hard part: you need to keep the egg inside the flour mound when you mix the dough and not let the egg escape through the sides of the flour and run over the flat surface. The way you hold the fork isimportant.) Pick up a fork and hold it with the tines parallel with the flat surface, not pointing down. Keeping the fork flat (parallel to the surface), begin making circles inside the mound and gently whip the eggs and oil until white and yolk are blended. (You could support the side of the flour mound with your free hand to help keep the egg in the mound.) With the same flat circular motion, very slowly start bringing flour from the side of the mound into the egg mixture. Continue slowly and carefully incorporating flour from sides and bottom of mound into the eggs until you have a sticky dough. Then put the fork down and gently knead the dough with your hand, incorporating enough flour to make a soft, but not sticky dough. Gather dough into a ball. You will probably not have used all of the flour in the mound. Pass remaining flour through a strainer to remove all lumps (throw lumps away). Use strained flour for rolling dough.

TO ROLL PASTA DOUGH ON A MACHINE

(Cut dough in half. If the dough has been made with more than one egg, cut it into as many portions as eggs used. Roll each portion of dough separately.)

A little wheel at the side of the machine adjusts the roller size. Put rollers on the most open setting. Turning handle of machine, pass lump of dough through rollers.

Fold rolled dough into thirds (like a letter). Press gently to flatten the dough rectangle. Lightly sprinkle dough rectangle with flour. Put one of the narrow ends of the folded rectangle into the machine and repeat the rolling, folding and flouring.  Repeat about eight more times, or until dough is very smooth.

Move the roller wheel notch one  number, putting the rollers a little closer together. Roll dough without folding. Sprinkle rolled dough with a little flour.

Repeat rolling the dough, moving the rollers one number closer after each rolling, and not folding, until the dough is as thin as you want it. (The sheet of dough will get longer and longer as you roll and you may need some help handling it. I don’t know if a purist would ever do this, but beginners can cut the long sheet in sections to make handling a little easier. It is important to remember to never squeeze a long sheet of dough in your fist, but let it hang over your open hand or on the back of your hand to move it.) After the last rolling, gently pull the pasta to its full length and set on lightly floured dishtowels to “dry” for about 10 minutes before cutting.

TO CUT FRESH PASTA

Pass the dough through the pasta machine’s cutting “teeth” to cut into shapes offered by the machine, or cut with a sharp knife into shapes not available on the machine. Put the cut pasta on floured dishtowels and set aside for about 10 minutes before cooking.

TO COOK FRESH PASTA

Put a lot of water into a large pot. Set the pot over high heat. Bring the water to a full boil. Put the pasta in the boiling water and cook until tender, 15 to 30 seconds for very thin fresh pasta and up to a minute for thicker. Drain pasta in a colander. The pasta is ready to add sauce and eat.

TOASTING FOR THE

FOURTH OF JULY

FRENCH CANADIAN KISS

From the bar in Panache restaurant at the Auberge Saint-Antoine, Quebec City, Canada

Combine in a cocktail shaker:

1-1/2 ounce pineapple juice

1 ounce vanilla Smirnoff vodka

1/2 ounce Ricaneux Framboise or raspberry liqueur

Add ice. Shake. Pour into a martini glass.

Garnish with fresh raspberries and cherries.

SOURSOP MARTINI

From Rosewood Little Dix Bay, Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands

Combine in a cocktail shaker:

1-1/2 ounces Kettle One Vodka

2 ounces soursop juice (see note)

Ice

Shake and strain into a chilled martini glass.

Note: Soursop (also know as guanabana) is a fruit native to the Caribbean and parts of South America. Wikipedia says, “Its flavor is described as a combination of strawberry and pineapple with sour citrus flavor notes contrasting with an underlying creamy flavor reminiscent of coconut or banana.” Soursop juice may be available in canned form from a specialized supermarket.

SIAM@SIAM COCKTAIL

From Siam @ Siam Design Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand

Combine in a tall glass:

1-1/2  ounces Bacardi rum

1 ounce Blue Curacao liqueur

1-1/2 ounces fresh coconut juice

1-1/2 ounces pineapple juice

1/2 ounce sweet and sour mix

Add ice and stir.

Garnish with a slice of lemon.

Fueled by passion, I became a stalker, or perhaps it’s nicer to say I went on a pie pilgrimage. In a secret effort to curb my promiscuous tendencies to adore each and every wedge that passes my plate, I headed to Key lime pie Mecca, the Florida Keys, to see if I could find an ultimate, peak-pie experience.

Everyone knows that this luscious substance, simply made with lime juice and sweetened condensed milk, was born in the Keys, but no one knows exactly when or where. Guesses are that Key limes, natives of Southeast Asia, came to the islands with the Spanish in the 1500s. It wasn’t until 1856, when Gail Borden created canned sweetened condensed milk, that a marriage of the ingredients was even possible.

I like the story that sailors were the matchmakers. Sailors cruising through the Keys carried supplies that didn’t spoil, such as hardtack and canned milk. They also picked up limes and eggs, which were readily available on shore. Can’t you just envision some galley cook trying to soften hardtack to an edible stage by crushing the rock-like crackers and soaking the crumbs in liquids at hand (lime juice, canned milk, an egg or two). Imagine the surprise when the acid in the lime “cooked” the proteins in the egg and milk, forming custard without the need for heat. What could be better than a delicious concoction, easily made from available ingredients, requiring no heat to cook.

Necessity may have been he mother of Key lime pie, but taste was the father and their progeny flourished. Sailors took the recipe to shore and locals took it to heart, so the pie was an established favorite even before the first written recipe appeared in the 1930s.

As with all marriages, age brought change. Graham crackers replaced hardtack and traditional pie crustsometimes replaced the graham crumbs. The original pies probably went topless, but at some point a thrifty cook wanting to use egg whites left over from the yolks in the custard, added a layer of meringue. Whipped cream joined the topping choices when fresh milk came to the Keys with the railroad in 1912. The greatest change however, and a shocking travesty to purists, occurred when folks began making Key lime pie, without Key limes.

The real Key lime is a small thing, about the size of a ping-pong ball, with yellowish-green skin. Tart and juicy with distinctive aroma and flavor, Key limes grow on trees with thorny branches. When a hurricane devastated the Key’s lime crop in 1926, most growers replaced their plantations with Persian limes, which are easier to pick and transport. The larger, deep green Persian limes are found in most supermarkets today.

The salmonella scare brought recent change. Cooks, worried about raw eggs, began to heat the pies instead of letting limes do the work.

Surprisingly for a dish made with so few ingredients, no two pies are the same— and I should know, having sampled and savored pies from one end of the Keys to the other.

What did I discover?

As long as the base pie is made of lime juice and sweetened condensed milk, anything goes. Well, practically anything. Floridians insist that the pie be made of Key limes (although it is difficult for most cooks to find this baby) and everyone agrees it is forbidden to use food color to tint the custard green.

As to my preferences, as much as I would like to report that I developed a sense of discrimination, finding a sole, soul-mate pie, I have to confess that after trying the tall, short, thin, plump, creative, traditional, unadorned and accessorized-to-the max pies—I love them all.

On the other hand, faced with leaving the Keys and separating from my pie promiscuity, I did pick up the recipe for Little Palm Island’s cashew crusted, egg-yolk-rich, whipped-cream-drenched specialty. I’m going to take it home to meet the folks, as this is a happily-ever-after pie if there ever was one.

Little Palm Island's Key Lime Pie

LITTLE PALM ISLAND’S

KEY LIME PIE

2 cups very finely chopped or ground cashews

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, divided

3/4 cup melted butter

Shortening to grease pan

3 cups sweetened condensed milk

9 egg yolks

1–1/2 cups Key lime juice

2 cups heavy cream

Finely grated peel of one orange

Make crust: Combine cashews, crumbs and 1/2 cup sugar in a mixing bowl. Add butter and stir until well blended. Lightly grease a 9- or 10-inch springform pan and pat crumb mixture evenly and firmly over bottom. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven until light golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Cool.

Make custard filling: In a large mixing bowl, beat milk and egg yolks until well blended. Slowly beat in lime juice. Pour mixture over prebaked crust. Bake in a preheated 300-degree oven until custard is set in center, 20 to 25 minutes. Set on a rack to cool completely.

Make topping: Put cream, orange peel and 2 tablespoons sugar in a mixing bowl and beat until stiff. Spread whipped cream over top of pie. Refrigerate until fully set, at least 1 hour. Cut around edge with a sharp knife and remove ring before serving.

Yield: 8 to 10 servings.

Check www.fla-keys.com for more about the Forida Keys.

For fellow orchid addicts:  After finding large black spots on two of my favorite phalaenopsis, I immediately called the local orchid hospital. The doc on call suggested a two-step cure. “First,” he said, “cut the spot from the plant, cutting with a sterilized tool, well below the spot, back to where the tissue is healthy.”

Cutting off the black spot is nothing new, but the next step was surprising, especially as this sick-orchid hot line is connected to a nursery selling as many orchid pharmaceuticals as the local Walgreens sells people pills and the advice did nothing to promote sales.

“Sprinkle ground cinnamon on the cut and on the stem base of the plant,” he said. “Cinnamon is the best anti-bacterial, anti-fungal around.”

Goodbye lethal chemicals. Hello cookie-scented healthy plants. Thank you orchid whisperer.

Sea Island has a habit of winning the hospitality industry’s top awards, racking up five stars for luxurious accommodations, world-famous golf and wonderful Southern-accented food.

Although the resort’s dining venues include the fancy formal, casual clubby and beachside basic, all of the restaurants serve bacon-packed cornbread muffins on request.

“We don’t dare stop making these muffins,” said one chef,  “generations of guests returning to Sea Island year after year wouldn’t stand for it.”

The chef also said that the muffins are best if the batter is made in advance and refrigerated about 24 hours before baking. This advance prep works to the advantage of busy home cooks who can, with almost no effort, serve home-made hot muffins in a variety of situations including breakfast for houseguests, informal family dinners and dinner-party extravaganzas.

BACON CORNBREAD MUFFINS Photo by Katherine Bish

SEA ISLAND RESORT’S

BACON CORNBREAD MUFFINS

Yield: 24 muffins

1 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3 eggs

1/4 cup (2 to 3 strips) cooked crumbled bacon

1 (14-3/4 ounces) can creamed corn

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

1-1/2 cups yellow cornmeal

1-1/4 cups bread flour

3 tablespoons baking powder

1-1/2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons milk

Shortening to grease muffin cups

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Add remaining ingredients and mix until well incorporated. Refrigerate batter in a covered container for at least 24 hours.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 400°F.  Generously grease 24 (2-1/2 inch) muffin cups. Spoon batter into cups and bake until muffins are set and golden brown, about 18 minutes. Serve muffins while they are warm.

Ten Best Restaurants in Rome

Elizabeth Helman Minchilli

Magazines, guidebooks, newspapers and the Internet all tout the best places to eat in Rome, but I have a better guide. I have direct access to Elizabeth Helman Minchilli, and she has the inside scoop.

Elizabeth leads the charmed Italian life. She was born in the United States, but has lived in Italy for 20 years, dividing  her time between a rooftop apartment in Rome, and a villa in Umbria, where I’ve had the pleasure of staying. (Five bedrooms, olive grove, 40 varieties of roses and a pool make the villa my idea of heaven. Since she rents it out, you can visit heaven too.)  Elizabeth travels through Italy gathering material for not only her articles, which she contributes to an enviable number of magazines, but also her books—six to date with Italian Rustic (Artisan, 2009) being her newest. Elizabeth is an authority on the best of the best Italian architecture, style, culture and food—which is why she tops my list of friends to call for restaurant recommendations.

So what are Elizabeth’s current favorite places to eat in Rome? Where would she suggest visitors try if they are headed to Rome the summer of 2010?

In her own words:

“It’s always hard choosing ‘the best’ of anything. While a lot of people complain about food in Rome, I find it’s hard to go wrong when going out to dinner here. In Florence and Venice it’s almost impossible to avoid tourist traps, but in Rome, it’s just not that hard to get a good plate of pasta. That said, I definitely have my favorites. The following are the places I go regularly, not in any particular order. I’ve tried to include a few in different neighborhoods since I imagine you’ll be touring around. For more Roman tips, visit my web site.

La Gensola

Piazza della Gensola 15

Tel: 06 581 6312

One of the best places to eat the freshest seafood in Rome. The other night we were there and the fish was delivered fresh from the boat, as we sat down at 8:30. By 8:45 we were dining on barely cooked sea scallops drizzled with aged balsamic and pasta tossed with chunks of fresh tuna and pine nuts. Dishes include such hard to find, and artisanal ingredients as saba from Emilia Romagna, collatura from Campania and small white beans from the hills of Lazio.

Urbana 47

Urbana

Via Urbana 47

06 478 84006

It’s not a coincidence that one of the most successful restaurant openings of the past few years happened in the ever-hipper Monti neighborhood. Walk past a handful of outside tables, to be welcomed by big over stuffed velvet armchairs. Mismatched tables and chairs are scattered over several loft-like rooms, including one that is completely open to the kitchen. There is something for everyone here, since service starts with breakfast and goes into the wee hours. Ingredients are organic and sourced locally, a forerunner of the “Zero Kilometro” or locavore movement in Rome. The menu changes seasonally, but this past fall we enjoyed pumpkin stuffed ravioli and vegetable ‘meatballs’ in a yogurt and pecorino sauce. Don’t miss their lunch buffet, a real bargain at 8 euros.

Taverna Dei Fori Imperiali

Via Madonna dei Monti 9

06 679 8643

Although it looks very touristy from the outside – red checked table clothes, dripping candle in Chianti bottle, etc.- this is actually a well-hidden secret. Don’t be fooled by the ordinary sounding menu posted by the front door. Chef Alessio always offers about a dozen specials, which are hard to choose from since they all sound so good! My favorite new addition is Fettuccine alla Romana, a pasta take on the venerable saltimboca. Homemade fettucine are tossed with prosciutto, pine nuts and sage. While the clientele is usually an assortment of locals and some tourists, Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro dropped in during the film festival and New York Times critic Frank Bruni and San Francisco chef Gary Danko both recently ordered Alessio’s famous meatloaf.

La Vecchia Bottega del Vino

Via Santa Maria del Piano 9a/11

06 681 92 210

Anacleto Bleve, and his wife Tina, are responsible the high standard of today’s enotecas in Rome. They first opened their wine shop in Rome’s ghetto twenty years ago, before expanding to their newer – and grander – Casa Bleve, near Piazza Navona. The original enoteca, which regulars love as much for its cozy décor as for the excellent wines is still my favorite. Their warm and friendly service – and fair prices and ever-excellent food – makes this many Roman’s favorite enoteca.

Settembrini

Via Luigi Settembrini 25

06 323 2617

When head sommelier Luca Boccoli left Casa Bleve last year, he was quickly nabbed by this new restaurant, and many regulars followed him there. The softly lit dining room is mostly taken up by the food-laden counter, topped with cheeses, hams, salamis and a chilled bucket of half a dozen champagnes and proseccos. Known for its extensive wine list, the food is innovative, but simple, based on the best ingredients. Although you can make a meal of their artisanal cheeses, hams and salamis, save room for the fish. As a first course try papperdelle tossed with grouper – both raw and cooked. A fillet of ricciolo – a Mediterranean fish – was perfectly cooked with crispy skin, atop a bed of puréed zucchini and topped with fried zucchini strips. If you are too full for dessert share the selection of artisanal chocolates.

Perilli

Via Marmorata 39

06 574 4215

Closed Wed.

One of my all time favorite roman restaurants. Located in the Testaccio neighborhood, this is a real old fashioned roman restaurant, complete with old grumpy waiters. Extraordinary carbornara, amatricana and pagliata (a pasta made with unborn calf intenstines). Meat is also great, including whatever roasts they have that day, as well as various innards. A typical Roman experience.

Trattoria Monti

Via San Vito 13/a

06 4466 573

On of my favorites in Rome, although the place has been there for 30 years. Excellent food and wonderful friendly service. Look at the menu, but the specials (which are many) are what you should concentrate on. They usually do pigeon some way, which is always good.  Do try the parmesan flan with lettuce sauce (listed under vegetarian dishes) as a antipasto. Also, their big tortolloni with a runny egg yolk inside is fantastic. Don’t miss their apple cake, a sort of pudding, for dessert.

Edy

Vicolo del Babuino 4

06 36 00 17 38

Closed Sunday

I only recently discovered this place, located on a small street not far from the Spanish steps. A very old fashioned trattoria that hasn’t been touched since the days of the Dolce Vita. It’s filled mostly with locals, including lots of antique dealers from the area. This is the place to try Roman specialties. I had a vitello tonnato that was great, not so easy to find these days in Rome. There are a few outside tables, but the wood panelled interior felt cool and shady on a summer day.

Ristorante Nerone

Via Delle Terme Di Tito, 96

06 4817952

You can’t come to Rome without visiting the Coliseum and the Roman Forum. Nerone is one of the handful of truly Roman trattoria that haven’t changed their interiors or their menu in the last thirty years. Offering the classics such as Spaghetti alla Carbonara and Vitello Saltimboca as well as a delicious array of antipasti. If you are lucky, nab a table with a view of the Coliseum, which looms a block away. Start with the self-serve antipasti buffet, which includes classics like grilled zucchini and frittata.

Bir & Fud

Via Benedetta 23 Trastevere

06 589 4016

This pizzeria is one of the hottest spots in Rome at the moment. The owner is one of the more highly regarded artisan beer makers in Italy and has a wide and very interesting selection. You can also order a ‘tasting’ menu of 5 beers. Pizzas are fantastic, made with top notch ingredients, but better yet are the other items which change daily. These include ‘fritti’, bruschette and things like suppli which are EXCELLENT! It does get noisy and crowded. To avoid that, get there on the early side, 7:30.”

AND DON’T FORGET COFFEE:  CLICK HERE AND HERE FOR THE BEST IN ROME

FAMILY CELEBRATION DINNER

Lets run the numbers:

94 glasses

89 plates and platters

32 guests

9 bottles of wine

7 roasted chickens

6 patchwork quilts (to cover the folding tables set end to end making one long table)

Sweet Leisure Cake

4 fragrant flowers in centerpieces

3 times the recipe for FAMILY-FAVORITE PARTY SALAD

2 great desserts (Sweet Leisure Cake and

decorated cookies

1 happy family

DRESSING

1 cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan

cheese

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 garlic clove, minced or pressed

Salt to taste

Black pepper to taste

SALAD

3 tablespoons butter

1 cup unseasoned fine dry bread crumbs

1 pound romaine lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces and chilled

1/2 head cauliflower, trimmed

Combine dressing ingredients in a small mixing bowl and refrigerate until ready to use.

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add bread crumbs and sauté, stirring constantly, until crumbs are lightly browned. Set crumbs aside to cool.

Put lettuce in a large salad bowl. Pour dressing over lettuce and toss gently until dressing evenly coats the lettuce pieces.

Pour crumbs over top of lettuce: don’t toss. Coarsely grate cauliflower and sprinkle over bread crumbs; don’t toss.  Refrigerate until ready to serve. Serve salad without tossing.

Makes 6 servings.

Enchantment is a good name for the resort, as much about the property enchants, especially the Sedona location in the midst of the awesome red rocks of Boynton Canyon and the sophisticated Southwest-style accommodations. But perhaps the most enchanting aspect of Enchantment is the resort’s spa, Miiamo, (pronounced: me ah’ mo).

The word “mii amo” comes from the Yuman (an Arizona Native American tribe) word for “journey,’ and the spa helps guests journey into well-being. Treatments focus on the Native American and Ayurvedic; classes cover everything from Qi Gong to photography; and a slew of activities include hiking and mountain biking in the glorious Arizona surroundings.

Enchantment guests can use Mii amo as a day spa, but Mii amo is also an inclusive destination spa, complete with its own accommodations, shop and café.  It’s the café that grabs my heart.

It would be a transgression to use the word deprivation in connection with Mii amo Café’s food. The dishes are intelligently low calorie, low cholesterol, and organic whenever possible, but dishes are also so packed with flavor and beautifully presented, that one feels not only satisfied eating them, but also privileged.

Lucky for home cooks who want to sample some of Mii amo’s food magic, Enchantment chefs have recently released A JOURNEY OF TASTE (Chronicle books, 144 pages, $35), a cookbook containing about 50 of the spa’s most requested recipes.

A Journey of Taste's book jacket

Mii amo doesn’t serve traditional restrictive spa food, and likewise, the book is not your ordinary cookbook.

The book’s introduction tells more about the history of the spa and a typical day at the spa than about preparing spa food. And snippets of introductory information are meant to inspire the cook, rather than educate. Consider:

“When each bite is a delight, less is more.”

Steve Sicinski and Steve Bernstein, chefs whose recipes fill A Journey of Taste

“High-quality ingredients can be used in smaller measures because their taste carries culinary weight.”

“Delicious food feeds not just the body, but the soul.”

Recipes form the core of the book and these are divided into four chapters: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Dessert. Appetizers, sauces, side dishes and beverages are incorporated into each “meal” chapter.

The book offers one recipe per page. Some recipes such as the Dried Fruit Compote have only two ingredients and two instruction sentences leaving much empty white space on the 9-3/4 by 10-inch page. Other recipes are longer. The Vegetarian Chili instructions run five paragraphs and the ingredient list has 27 items–one of them a vegetable stock with its own complete sub recipe on a different page; the vegetable stock calls for 13 ingredients. But even the more complicated recipes have easy to follow instructions, although some dishes such as the Filet Mignon with Truffled Peruvian Potatoes and Wild Mushroom Demi-glace take a little time- juggling, easier for a restaurant cook than a home cook trying to get a meal on the table. All recipes come with a nutritional analysis and a note on serving size. Serving suggestions and presentation tips are incorporated into most recipes.

Not all recipes have photos, which is a shame, as photos add a reference for the cook. Beside Mii amo believes that “Food should look beautiful as well as taste fantastic,” and visuals are an essential part of Mii amo food’s appeal.

Another small objection to this book is the section offering menu suggestions: For example the book suggests serving Apple Cottage Griddle Cakes with a Mayan Breeze Smoothie and a Blueberry Muffin. The griddle cakes are so good they don’t need a muffin—and besides, it seems odd to pair dishes based on apples and blueberries—fruits with different peak periods.

A JOURNEY OF TASTE may not be the ultimate reference cookbook, but the recipes are worth having and should please anybody trying to eat well and stay well.

The book is available from Mii amo’s shop and a sneak preview is available here:

APPLE COTTAGE GRIDDLE CAKES

Serves 5

1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup low-fat buttermilk

1 large egg

1 large egg white

1 large tart green apple, such as Granny Smith, peeled, cored and coarsely grated

1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

1 cup low-fat or nonfat cottage cheese

I teaspoon canola or vegetable oil

Shreds of tart apple add moisture as well as flavor to these popular griddle cakes. Serve them warm, drizzled lightly with honey or brown rice syrup, or topped with fresh seasonal fruit.

Preheat an electric or stovetop griddle to about 375 degrees F. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Whisk gently to blend.

In a large bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, egg, and egg white until blended Stir in the apple and lemon zest. Add dry ingredients, folding until nearly blended. Fold in the cottage cheese.

Spray the hot griddle with the oil. Working in batches, spoon or ladle 1/4-cup portions of the batter onto the griddle, leaving about 2 inches between each griddle cake. Cook for about 3 minutes, or until bubbly and set around the edges. Turn over and cook 2 minutes longer, until cooked through and lightly golden. Keep the cooked griddle cakes warm while you cook the remaining batter. To serve, top as desired and serve warm.

251 cal. 4 g fat, 13 g prot, 45 g carb

Those in search of the culinary esoteric, the best of the best, and/or the unique food creations that any region has to offer, should head to South Louisiana and all things boudin.

Not just a sausage, boudin is an icon of culinary heritage in this part of the world, sold in restaurants, grocery stores, butcher shops, roadside stands and even filling stations.

As locals well know, not all Boudin is created equal. The sausages come in a variety of forms (links and round balls), flavors (mild, hot-as-hell and in between), and fillings (pork, shrimp, crawfish, chicken and even alligator).

Grilled boudin links and fried boudin balls.

Those wanting to sample and savor the ultimate boudin (of which there are many candidates) need only drive along the Southwest Louisiana Boudin Trail (as outlined in a brochure published by the Lake Charles Southwest Louisiana Convention and Visitors Bureau) and the Southern Boudin Trail (as described at  southernboudintrail.com ).

Trailblazers will need a car, some cash, an appetite, napkins and the ability to remember how to pronounce boudin (which is  “boudan” or “boodeh” delivered with a Cajun accent).